greatness
by venomoth
Summary: "There are sixteen badges along her brim and six pokeballs at her belt. She is ready." -Blue, Gold. Romantic pairing if you squint.


_greatness_

_/_

"Hey! Battle me!"

The girl turns, a smirk playing at her lips as she sees a grimy-faced little kid staring her down, an aipom on his shoulder. He stands tall, an attempt to intimidate her that fails because he is only as tall as her shoulder.

"Sorry, kid," she says, waving a hand dismissively. "You can't be a trainer yet, you're too young." And she starts to turn away when the boy yells after her indignantly, "I'm nine! I'm practically old enough!"

She looks at him out of the corner of her eye, a crafty glance. By now, the citizens of New Bark are gathering around, anticipating a battle in a place where such exciting events are no doubt few and far between.

The kid crosses his arms, and his aipom screeches.

She finally grins. "Suit yourself."

They decide to battle in a grassy field just outside the town limits. They stand at opposite corners of the battlefield, the boy frowning determinedly and she grinning cockily.

A stand-in referee announces, "This battle will be a one-on one! Gold, the almost-trainer from New Bark Town, and…"

"Blue," she supplies. "Blue from Pallet Town."

There is a gasp of admiration at this. Kantonians don't visit New Bark very often. The crowd recovers quickly, however, and lets out a cheer for the boy.

Blue casts out a pokeball, and a pink, round creature appears in a burst of light.

"A jigglypuff?" the boy jeers. "This should be easy. Go, Aibo!" The aipom leaps off the boy's shoulder, and lands gracefully in the middle of the field.

"Aibo, use doubleslap!" The aipom leaps forward, tail extended. Blue smiles.

"Jiggly, fly!" The pink pokemon inflates its body and soars into the air, leaving the aipom crouched uncertainly below.

Gold frowns. "Aibo, just wait for it to come down and hit it then!"

When Jiggly gets high enough, Blue commands, "Jiggly, mega kick!" The jigglypuff quickly exhales and falls toward the earth footfirst, gaining speed more quickly than one would expect from such a non-aerodynamic figure.

The aipom screeches in alarm and raises its forearms to block as Jiggly's mega kick connects. The purple monkey is thrown back but doesn't go down. It bares its teeth angrily and glares at Jiggly, who lands nonchalantly and dusts itself off.

"Aibo, try a swift!" Gold shouts, and the aipom whips its tail forward to send a barrage of stars toward Jiggly.

"Rollout," Blue says. The pink pokemon curls up into a ball, dodging the swift attack, and rolls forward, knocking the aipom down again. The monkey struggles to get up, but wilts to the ground weakly.

The boy, eyes down, picks up the aipom gently. It groans. "Aibo, good job. You deserve a long rest, buddy."

Gold finally looks up at Blue. The crowd is silent. Blue recalls her jigglypuff after a pat on the head, and walks forward.

"You're going to be a good battler someday."

"What makes you say that?" the boy demands. "I didn't even do any damage to you!"

Blue smiles and takes off her hat to display the little bits of shiny metal attached to its brim. Badges. "I battled in the Kanto League and came in third. I'm here to get the badges from the gym in this region."

The boy's eyes are wide. "Wow," he says in admiration. "I'm gonna have badges like that someday."

"Yeah, maybe we'll even battle again someday," Blue says encouragingly.

/

Blue is standing at the edge of a battlefield, the roar of the stadium deaf to her ears. There are sixteen badges along her brim and six pokeballs at her belt. She is ready.

A tall, raven-haired boy stands opposite her, shaggy hair barely contained underneath a cap. His eyes widen as he sees his opponent.

"It's you!" he says incredulously.

Blue smiles and tosses out a pokeball, revealing a wigglytuff. He tosses his own pokeball, revealing an aipom that tenses in battle stance.

"A battle," Blue says, "for old time's sake?"

Gold smiles and runs a hand along the badges sewn along his own cap.

"Aibo, doubleslap."


End file.
